LETTERS

Hitting Home
In response to Karen Bowers's story on the Wahrle family situation ("A House Divided," December 21), I would like to educate the writer on human decency. It was obvious, in my opinion, that Ms. Bowers acted as judge, jury, then God in her description of this horrible life young Suzanne had to endure. In reading carefully, it was my point of view that the truth could lie anywhere between the father's words or that of an obvious victim born to undeserving parents. If the only truth had been the verbal abuse, alienation and undeserved withholding of parental love alone, these parents deserve all that they got. The father was admittedly a walking dysfunction, but what was this weak woman who bore these children doing to protect them from this soul-killer? Parents everywhere, heed these words: You are just as guilty as the abuser you allow into your children's environment! That includes the neglective, abusive daycare that you bring your innocents to! Wake up! This society will not push your dirty laundry under the rug any longer. My heart goes out to Suzanne, who, in this reader's opinion, has suffered the worst and then was punched in the gut again by an ignorant writer like Karen Bowers!

P.S.: Thank you for putting such real human stories into your publication. I don't always agree with the opinions expressed, but it is necessary to educate us as a public. I would like to add that Ms. Bowers is a good writer who should choose her words more carefully.

C. Ginsburg
Denver

End of the Two-Way Street
I am writing (as was suggested by the president of Arapahoe Community College, James Weber) in regard to a story which was well written and yet has taken a lot of abuse: Steve Jackson's "A Real Class Act," in the December 14 issue. I faxed Mr. Jackson a copy of Richard Lebowitz's statement to the Rapp Street Journal, a copy of the story we did on Lebowitz, information I could remember from my interview with Lebowitz, and a copy of editor Michael "Doc" Simpson's editorial on sexual harassment. I did not include any information about any removal of my editor, Mr. Simpson. Nor did I give any information on the current activities of the RSJ. I take serious offense at Mr. Simpson's surmising in your last issue that I would do anything to defame him in a public matter.

Unfortunately, this matter is getting out of hand. Mr. Jackson did nothing wrong in his reporting. His reporting was excellent. Mr. Simpson, you have characterized yourself as a victim. I do not believe you are a victim. What makes you think you are? The only information in the Jackson story about you was a few direct quotes from you and the information on your leaving for two days, which is true. Are you mad because you took two days off and had your assistant managers tell people around the office that you had taken a voluntary temporary suspension and that they were now in charge? If not this, then what was wrong with the story?

I would also like to make it clear that columnist and copy editor Lisbeth Mullin is one of the finest people anyone could know, and she continues to exhibit a level of professionalism unsurpassed by anyone on this staff.